


The Night We Met

by Rivendell101



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Missing Persons
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-25
Updated: 2018-06-25
Packaged: 2019-05-28 03:51:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15040082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rivendell101/pseuds/Rivendell101
Summary: dis·ap·pearverbpast tense: disappeared; past participle: disappeared1. cease to be visible.2. cease to exist or be in use.3. (of a thing) be lost or impossible to find.4. (of a person) go missing.Katherine Harlocke disappears at 11:59 PM on a rainy night in October after an argument with Sweet Pea. No trace. No goodbyes. And no body. Things come crashing down in the months to come as those involved struggle with letting go or clinging onto what little hope they have left as the search dwindles to nothing. And Sweet Pea hurtles towards a violent downward spiral.





	The Night We Met

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place the characters' senior year of high school. Everyone is eighteen unless stated otherwise. I'm kind of nervous about posting this, but I was encouraged to do so, and here it is!
> 
> Primary chapters alternate with “interludes” every other post. Chapters chronicle the present timeline of events and Interludes are shorter flashbacks involving other characters and an original character, Kat. Most interludes are filler based on character development, rather than plot.

Sweet Pea lets an angry breath hiss between his teeth, his jaw clenching tightly as he glares at the deputy on the other side of the desk. The man only stares back, appearing almost bored with the conversation and that only serves to make him angrier, a familiar rage bubbling in his chest and making him feel sick to his stomach.

A muscle in his jaw jumps as his teeth grind together, his eyes squeezing shut as he takes a slow breath, steeling his nerves. His fingers drum against the hard plastic chair beneath him, beating out a fast, irregular pattern. “You’re not listening to what I’m—”

The deputy cuts him off before he can finish, shaking his head with a sympathetic smile. “As I’ve already told you, twice, most people don’t just disappear.” Sweet Pea stiffens at the word, forcing his gaze away from the deputy, his hands trembling at his sides. He doesn’t move, barely breathes, but the deputy continues, making the sinking feeling in Sweet Pea’s stomach grow with each word. “More often than not, a missing person shows up within twenty-four hours.”

Sweet Pea shakes his head slowly, a grimace pulling at his lips. He’s been calling Kat all morning, needing to hear her voice after the way they left things last night, but she wouldn’t answer the phone. At first, he thought she was still just pissed at him. They both said things they didn’t mean last night, things that hurt and things that held too much truth for either of them to swallow, but she’s never outright ignored him before, knowing how much he worries. And when she never came home…

Sweet Pea almost bites his tongue to keep from snapping at the deputy, exhaling harshly through his nose as he rakes his hand through his messy hair, trying one last time to just get them to listen. He’s been here for nearly an hour and they aren’t doing anything besides telling him that nothing is wrong. “She wouldn’t just—”

He’s cut off again, the deputy still speaking calmly, slowly, and it only serves to piss him off more. “You said you last saw her last night.” It isn’t a question and this time Sweet Pea does bite his tongue to keep from snapping at the man, to keep himself from saying that he last saw her a minute before midnight as she was walking away from him in the pouring rain, and he hadn’t bothered to stay and watch her leave. “Give it until tomorrow morning and if she’s still not back—”

“Listen to me dammit!” Sweet Pea’s clenched fist slams down on the desk between them, making the deputy jump. Every eye in the room turns to Sweet Pea, some curious, but most simply annoyed by the disturbance. He’s never been one to care about what other people think, but right now he wants those eyes off of him, his skin itching like they’re peeling back the layers of his skin and seeing something inside he doesn’t like to show. 

Raw, gut wrenching fear. 

He takes another ragged breath, swallowing down the sick swell of emotion rising in his throat. “I’m telling you that something’s wrong,” he tells the deputy, the words coming out much softer than he means them to, his voice quivering as the fight seems to drain from him, at least momentarily. Without the fury he only feels a cold emptiness clawing at his chest, and he would take the anger over that any day.

At his quiet words, the deputy pauses, finally looking at him properly for the first time since he stormed in. The older man purses his lips, uncomfortable under the Serpent’s stare. After several long seconds, the man sighs, placing his hands flat on his desk as he meets Sweet Pea’s gaze properly, wetting his lips. “Miss Harlocke is over the age of eighteen,” he tells Sweet Pea, almost apologetic as he says it. Almost. “If she were a minor this would be different,” he continues gently. “Policy—”

“Fuck your policy!” he spits at the officer, voice carrying throughout the room as it goes eerily quiet. Sweet Pea stands from his chair so quickly that it tumbles backwards, hitting the tile floor with a bang that seems to echo, the sound violent in the otherwise silent room.

For a moment it seems like no one moves, no one breathes, and all Sweet Pea can hear is the roar of his pulse in his ears, heart pounding in his chest as he takes a shaky breath through clenched teeth.

“Calm down,” the deputy demands, sending Sweet Pea a stern look, “or we’ll have someone escort you out.” It’s a veiled threat and they both know it, and with a sinking feeling he realizes these people aren’t going to help him. Maybe they don’t want to help him, and he knows that being here isn’t going to help him find Kat. It’s just a waste of his time.

Sweet Pea shakes his head, a bitter laugh spilling from the back of his throat. “Don’t fucking bother,” he sneers, sending the deputy one last glare before turning on his heel and storming from the room, knowing the way out by muscle memory alone.

He should have known the cops wouldn’t be any help to him. They all know who he is and they have no love of Serpents, especially not after recent years. They don’t give a damn what happens on the Southside, and Kat is a Serpent whether or not she has the jacket or the tattoo, even if she was born on the northern side of town. She’s one of them and the cops know that. And maybe that’s what’s making them brush her aside. She’s just another fucked up Southsider to them, nothing more.

But Sweet Pea knows better than that.

He practically rips his phone from his pocket as he stomps towards the front doors, checking for any messages from Kat, any sign that she’s okay, but all there is is a missed call from Fangs and a brief text from Jughead asking why he called so damn early in the morning. He ignores both, shoving his phone back into his pocket as he pushes the doors open wide.

Toni and Fangs’ heads snap up when the door to the station clatters open, Toni perched on the metal railing of the stairs and Fangs leaning back against the bars beside her. They start to smile when they see him, but it only lasts a second, their hopeful expressions slipping when they see the storm brewing in his eyes, his jaw clenched and his hands trembling at his sides. 

The doors slam shut again behind him, but he doesn’t give the station a second glance as he trudges towards his friends, rage bubbling under his skin. Toni’s lips press into a thin line as Sweet Pea nears, Fangs glancing between the two of them slowly, chewing his lower lip absently, a nervous tick.

Toni slides down from the railing as soon as he’s close. “Anything?” she asks, exasperated, her eyes searching Sweet Pea’s frantically for even a hint of good news. Something—anything. “Sweet Pea, what did they say?” Toni continues when he doesn’t respond, grabbing his arm in a firm grip when he tries to slide passed her. “Sweet Pea.”

He jerks to a stop, sucking in an angry breath through his teeth. He doesn’t look at Toni, refusing to meet her eyes, and when Fangs takes a step closer to them, he turns his face away, unwilling to look at his friends as his throat grows tight, a phantom hand wound around his neck and squeezing. “Bastards say she’ll turn up by the end of the day,” he chokes out bitterly, a humorless laugh spilling from his mouth. “They’re not going to do a damn thing.”

“Jesus,” Fangs murmurs, shaking his head in disbelief. 

Sweet Pea lashes out suddenly, a loud ‘fuck!’ tears from his mouth, his foot connecting with a half empty trashcan and sending it careening down the steps, contents left to spill across the ground. Toni’s grip on him tightens as he sneers at the garbage littering the ground, but he barely feels it.

Fangs reaches out slowly, placing a hand on Sweet Pea’s arm, like Toni, but Sweet Pea shrugs them both off, pulling his jacket tighter around himself to ward off the October morning chill, the sky still gray after the storm last night. It’s almost fitting, in some twisted form of irony. Everything is darker than it was yesterday, washed out and a thousand shades of gray.

Sweet Pea ducks his head down, running his trembling fingers through his hair as he fights to keep his breathing even, lack of sleep and the sick feeling churning in his gut making him nauseous.

“Is it possible that she will?” Toni asks, and both Fangs and Sweet Pea glance down at her, watching as she plays with the hem of her jacket, pulling absentmindedly at a loose thread. “Turn up, I mean,” she clarifies, looking between the boys. “You guys did get into a pretty bad fight…” She trails off with a grimace as she realizes what she’s said, Sweet Pea going very still at the reminder.

Sweet Pea exhales heavily through his nose, squeezing his eyes shut and shaking his head. He doesn’t want to think about last night, about him and Kat screaming at each other over the rain and the roaring of his pulse, about the way she looked at him like she couldn’t even recognize him for a moment, about the things he said and the things he didn’t say, and the things he wishes he’d said.

He turns his back on Toni and Fangs, hands curling around the worn railing Toni and Fangs were just leaning against. The rough metal bites into his skin, so cold it burns, but he ignores the sting, needing to feel something to keep himself from going ballistic. His phone rings in his back pocket, but the ringtone isn’t right and he knows in his gut that it isn’t her.

“Toni,” Fangs sighs, voice hushed and chastising. He glances at Sweet Pea, back turned to both of them and half-hunched over to make himself smaller. Fangs winces, unable to say anything else as he looks at his best friend, watching as cracks start to appear in the harsh exterior he’s created over the years. 

None of them had ever seen Sweet Pea as frantic as he was this morning when he stormed into the Whyte Wyrm, something desperate in his eyes, almost haunted.

“Look,” Toni snaps, running a hand through her unruly hair, “maybe she’s just ignoring our calls and needs some time alone.”

Fangs is already shaking his head before she’s even finished. “Kat wouldn’t do that though,” he murmurs back to her, trying to keep his voice low as he glances at Sweet Pea. “You know she wouldn’t do that, Toni.” It comes out as barely a whisper, fragile as Fangs swallows down the lump in his throat.

“Kat has a knack for surprises,” she argues back, louder than before as she glares at Fangs, daring him to challenge her. “She likes to pull pranks.”

Fangs’ eyes narrow, a frown pulling at his lips. “Is that what you want to call this? A surprise? A bad joke?”

“I don’t want to call it anything, Fredrick!” she spits at him, the use of his first name making Fangs wince. Toni squeezes her eyes shut, wrapping her arms around herself as she glances at Sweet Pea, her gaze practically ripping away from him a moment later to focus back on Fangs. “Look,” she starts softly, words shaky as she continues, “there were parties going on last night. It was a Friday night. She was pissed. Maybe she got hammered somewhere and her phone is dead.”

Fangs shakes his head. “You don’t think she would have called someone? Kat always leaves drunk voicemails when she parties. You know that!”

“Well, maybe this time was different, I don’t know!” She shots Fangs a nasty look, eyes bright and watery. “I just don’t want to think about Kat dead in some—” She cuts herself off sharply, choking as she realizes what she’s said. Fangs’ gaze drops to the ground, is hands clenching tightly as he forces himself to swallow. Sweet Pea physically flinches at the word, though he tries to hide the small jerk of his torso. They all see it though. They all know and it makes Toni’s stomach twist sickly. 

“Kat’s fine,” Toni says suddenly, voice louder, firm as she looks up at Fangs again. “She’s going to show up later at the Wyrm with—with some wild ass story and…” she trails off briefly, fighting to keep her voice from quivering, “and we’re all going to laugh it off.”

Sweet Pea doesn’t react to Toni’s claim, staring across the street at nothing. The roaring in his ears has only gotten louder since he left the station, his head pounding in time with his heartbeat, and he can barely hear himself think.

“I’m going to call Kevin again,” Fangs whispers to Toni, eyes jumping between her and Sweet Pea, waiting for him to explode again, “see if he’s heard anything.” He slips his phone from his pocket, glancing down to scroll through his contacts as he wets his lips.

She nods. “Call Betty, too. She wasn’t answering earlier this morning, but maybe Kat’s with her.”

Fangs sends her a look that’s so heartbreaking it feels like a physical blow to the chest. “Wouldn’t Betty have called you back if—”

“Fangs,” Toni sighs, cutting him off gently. “Don’t,” she whispers, choking up, “please, just—don’t.”

Fangs gives Toni a sharp nod and casts one last look at Sweet Pea’s back before sighing and turning away, raising his phone to his ear and walking passed both him and Toni to reach the bottom of the steps leading away from the station. Toni watches him go before her gaze drifts back to Sweet Pea, her eyes going wide when she notices his entire body trembling.

“Sweet Pea, you’re shaking,” she murmurs, flinching when something that sounds like a cross between a mirthless laugh and a sob rips from somewhere deep in his chest. His grip on the railing only grows tighter, his knuckles paling. Toni takes a step closer to him, reaching out but not touching him. “Sweets,” she whispers, voice thick with something he doesn’t want to put a name to.

He releases a ragged breath, squeezing his eyes shut briefly as he refuses to look at her. “Something’s wrong,” he chokes out, shaking his head. “Toni, I can feel it.” He stares down at his hands, clenching his teeth to keep them from chattering right out of his mouth. “I knew as soon as she walked away but—” but he was too stubborn to stop her. Too angry. Too much of a coward. “I wanted so badly to be angry this morning when she wouldn’t answer the phone,” he tells her in a whisper, only half-aware of what he’s saying, “but after she didn’t pick up it was like I couldn’t breathe. Fuck, I couldn’t breathe.” His throat grows tight again, the air forced from his lungs.

“Kat is fine,” Toni coos at him, placing a hand on the center of his back and rubbing slow circles against the leather. “She is.” A cheerless smile slips onto her face. “And she’s going to call in a few hours and ask you to pick her up from whatever shitty northside party she crashed at last night, and you guys are going to talk about your fight and make up like you always do.” 

She sounds so sure that he almost believes her. Almost.

Sweet Pea shakes his head, sighing. “Toni—”

“Steven,” she says sharply, the use of his first name making his head snap up in surprise. Toni very rarely calls Fangs and him by their real names, and even then it’s only when she’s being completely serious. Sweet Pea looks down at Toni, meeting her gaze with his own wild eyes, suddenly feeling very small and very, very lost. “She’s going to call you,” Toni continues firmly, placing her hands on his shoulders and giving a slow squeeze, forcing him to release his iron grip on the railing in order to face her directly. She nods as if willing them both to believe her and forces a tight smile onto her lips. “She will.”

A cold ache that feels a lot like doubt settles in his bones, so deep he’s not sure it will ever leave. “Yeah,” he whispers back to her, allowing her to wrap her arms around him fully, Toni squeezing him as if that might keep all the pieces of him together. “Yeah,” he repeats lowly, hands still trembling at his sides.

She doesn’t.


End file.
